Ep. 97 The Killing Floor

The great Bill Duke, immortalized onscreen for his roles
in Car Wash, Predator, Action Jackson, The
Limey and Mandy, also boasts a distinctive five-decade
career directing film and television. On this episode, hosts
Christopher Funderburg and John Cribbs welcome back Pinnland Empire
guru Marcus Pinn to discuss Duke's 1984 feature debut, The
Killing Floor. After premiering on the PBS American Playhouse
series, winning the Special Jury Prize at Sundance and being chosen
as an Official Selection of the "La Semaine de la Critique" section
at Cannes, the movie practically disappeared from sight until its
recent 4k restoration and preservation by the UCLA Film &
Television Archive. Set during a period of migration of Southern
black workers to the giant Chicago slaughterhouses during the first
World War, Killing Floor concerns the struggle to build
an interracial union even as meatpacking management actively
plotted to divide the workface along ethnic lines, a conflict which
boiled over in the race riots of 1919. Featuring early performances
from Alfre Woodard and Dennis Farina, an exhaustively researched
screenplay by Leslie Lee (from a story by producer Elsa Rassbach)
and assured direction from Duke, it's a film that deserves more
recognition for both its subject matter and its own time and place
in American filmmaking. Support our Patreon:

www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com Marcus Pinn on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/PINNLAND_EMPIRE The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea
for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"